Poteaux-en-terre (posts in ground) is a type of timber framing with the many vertical posts or studs buried in the ground called post in ground or "earthfast" construction. The tops of the posts are joined to a beam and the spaces between are filled in with natural materials called bousillage or pierrotage.

Other infills include "bousillage", fired brick, unfired brick such as adobe or mudbrick, stones sometimes called "pierrotage", planks as in the German "standerbohlenbau", timbers as in "standerblockbau", or rarely cob without any wooden support. The wall surfaces on the interior were often “ceiled” with wainscoting and plastered for warmth and appearance.

In the historical region of New France "poteaux-en-terre" was a historic style of earthfast timber framing. This method is very similar to poteaux-sur-sol but for the "boulin" (hewn posts) planted in the ground rather than landing on a sill plate. The spaces between the boulin were filled with bousillage (reinforced mud) or pierrotage (stones and mud).

Most buildings constructed during the French colonial period utilized a heavy timber frame of logs installed vertically on a sill, "poteaux-sur-sol", or into the earth, "poteaux-en-terre". An infill of lime mortar or clay mixed with small stones (pierrotage) or a mixture of mud, moss, and animal hair (bousillage) was used to pack between the logs. Many times the infill would later be replaced with brick. This method of construction was used in the Illinois Country as well as Louisiana.

"Bousillage" in south Louisiana is a mixture of clay earth and retted Spanish moss, but in the Upper Mississippi River Valley and Canada contains straw, grass or hair, used to fill in the panels in poteaux-sur-sol, poteaux-en-terre, and half-timbered framing (called "colombage" in French). This was a technique used in French Louisiana by colonists from the 18th to 19th centuries. In France the framing was typically in-filled between the post with brick (briquette-entre-poteaux), stone and mud (Pierrotage) or bousillage. There was no stone in south Louisiana, and bricks were not being made during early colonial times. The colonist picked up on a technique that the Native Americans were using to build their wattle and daub structures, and that was heavy clay soil and retted Spanish moss as the binder. Split sticks or staves, known as "barreaux", "rabbits" or "batons" were used as rungs between the upright post. They were shaped to fit at an angle and hammered into place without the use of nails.